The Dead Deer
by Vulpuz
Summary: Remembering one of my adventures as I child, when I find a dead deer on the mountainside.


p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Calibri; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"It was about late July, in the damp, sweltering heat of the Oklahoma mountains, that seven-year old me found a dead deer. /span/p  
>p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Calibri; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"My family and I smelt it before we reached the edge of the beige cliff where the beast was hanging, on its side, tongue lolling, antlers bleached. span/p  
>p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Calibri; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Dad muttered something, and suddenly me and my siblings were all shouting about the horrible stench- Like rotting, uncured leather, the stench seeped into one's nostrils and stuck there, like peanut butter on the roof of your mouth. As you got closer, the stench strengthened. span/p  
>p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Calibri; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The sound of hundreds of tiny wings buzzing rhythmically broke through the sound of the gently swaying, closely-cropped branches that provided shade to the weary traveler as one approached the sight of the buck's end. span/p  
>p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Calibri; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"A step too close, and you could see a black cloud of shiny, hairy little bodies hanging above the corpse, winged, the immediate sign of death outside. Beetles, ants and worms crawled all over the deer's insides and its long-dried outer body, its rough pelt swarming with activity. span/p  
>p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Calibri; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The sickening sound of nature at work was almost enough to make a weaker being vomit, especially when accompanying the savage stench.span/p  
>p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Calibri; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"But not my brother and I, who immediately strolled up to the slain beast and began poking and jabbing it with bits of little broken sticks and branches that we were using as walking sticks, just like grownups. span/p  
>p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Calibri; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"My little brother Louie giggled, before giving a long, stretched-out "ewwww…" as he cast the occasional glance to me to see if I was enjoying it just as much as he was. I grinned, cackling wickedly as I poked my stick through the buck's fleshy side, watching the insects scuttle away. span/p  
>p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Calibri; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Finally, my parents, with their "No!"s and their "Ugh, guys, c'mon now, that's disgusting!"s following us on the wind, and with baby sister in tow, forced us to continue on down the trail. span/p  
>p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Calibri; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The hot, wonderful late afternoon continued on shortly afterwards. span/p  
>p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt;"span style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Calibri; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"We saw bison and went to a cowboy museum. I, however, could not help but occasionally think of that mysterious buck lying dead on the side of the trail. span/p 


End file.
